Winter Wonderland

A while back when I was making Ava’s birthday dress, I mentioned that the buttons for that dress came from an old felted wool sweater. I also mentioned that the rest of that sweater was destined to become wool mittens. A set of upcycled mittens is a fairly quick and easy sewing project on a budget. These mittens were a 100% wool Lord Chesterfield sweater that I found at a local thrift store a while back, for a couple bucks. I wore it a lot, but it was only a matter of time before one of us accidentally threw it in the wash.

This easy accident makes for a very nice pair or pairs of mittens for wee ones. The pattern I use is from the book Oliver + S Little Things to Sew. This is the second winter that I’ve made these. The first time, I forgot to reverse the pattern and ended up with two right hands! Ava didn’t mind; they are very warm regardless. But alas, this winter, she has a pair that fits both left and right hands.

The design of these is really great for little ones. The way the thumb is constructed just works for little hands much better than most mittens out there. The accent fabric is a designer fabric I picked up at JoAnn’s a very long time ago. I honestly can’t remember the name of it. You could easily use scrap fabric for this part and put together a pair of these for the cost of a small amount of elastic for the wrist gatherings.

We are really soaking up all the winter happiness to be had today. Sledding, snow girl aheem… I mean flying “Giston,” the super snow girl making, and one very very excited puppy who loves digging her face under inches upon inches of this glistening snow. “I like being cold, mom.” We are true Northerners at heart it seems.

Happy snow days!

Cynthia